


stick 'em with the pointy end

by Vellev



Series: first things first [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Heteronormativity, Piercings, fear of needles, first piercing, mild sexism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 02:33:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3192014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vellev/pseuds/Vellev
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First Piercing. Shared with John Egbert, age fourteen.<br/>Needles are scary, bro.</p>
            </blockquote>





	stick 'em with the pointy end

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry about fourteen year old Dave’s cursing, wow.  
> I can proudly say this story is in no way based off real events, except like, well. Getting ears pierced as a teenager and being a fucking wimp around needles. And. Yeah, totally based off real events, wow.

You’ve gotten pretty fucking good at hiding your nervousness, if you do say so yourself. It’s a talent, a skill, of yours you might say. Like, if you were in a talent show, you would get someone to come up and make you as nervous as possible, like throw a knife and you and shit, and you wouldn’t budge, not once. Until the knife land smack dab in the middle of your chest, of course, but. We digress.  
Every single emotion you’ve got, really, not just nervousness, you can shroud in a disappointed or judgmental expression, you know, the im judging you from a mile away one and really that’s just the way you go about your life.

Being worried is what it is most of the time, though, if you’re gonna be straight with yourself.

You’ve got your nervous quirks, just like every other sorry prick out there in the world; picking and biting at your nails and cuticles, scratching at the back of your neck, the whole goddamn shebang. Bro notices them, but you’re pretty certain he can smell your fear anyway, like parents often do, so that don’t really count. No one else, though, really. Unless you’re a fucking dipshit and you rant on about you not being nervous for too long, hell, not even your goddamn cousin Rose back in New York can tell. 

You’re so nervous you might fucking puke now, though.  
You’ve always be scared of needles. Always. You hate the doctors, you hate it, and Jesus Christ in a sidecar, when you had a cavity a year or two ago, you almost threw a tantrum when Bro joked around about them needing that big ol’ needle they need for those adult teeth operations. You always get grossed out when people in your school stick like pins underneath their first layer of skin like lol it doesn't even hurt look what i can do hahaha im edward dweebhands it’s just fucking nasty, and honestly you’re not even particular to lookin’ at it.

People in your school, particularly, the one individual known as John Egbert.

He’s your best friend, or at least that’s what you decided two or three years ago when you were getting pummeled on the dodgeball field and he was your one football-playing saving grace. 

He’s alright, though, you’ve learned. About the biggest dork you can ever imagine, like you’ve been trying to convince the Guinness Book of World Records for months to come into your town on the upper edge of California and interview John and create the ‘biggest dork’ section just for him. And really, they would tour the whole goddamn nation, the whole world, just for someone dorkier than him, and they wouldn’t be able to find it, not even if they tried.

He actually owns furry slippers with Chewbacca on them. Like really, take me down to dweeb city.

He’s the one that pushed you into doing this. You mentioned it once or twice, just because you thought it would be cool, but John was the one that really wanted it to happen. You don’t really know, his father is too straight laced (Really, though, you think he might iron his shoelaces.) to ever even consider letting his little teenage white boy get a whole in his body. Really, you think that if the guy could, he would like, erase every hole on his body except his mouth. Goodbye ears. Goodbye nostrils. Goodbye anus. Goodbye dickhole. You think he just wants to, well, get you pierced because he can’t do it himself. And also, well, you’re a little too cool to say no to getting a piercing. You’re not gonna flat out admit that needles freak you the fuck out, and you kind of do want it, so. You can’t really say no. 

So Bro took you and the dweeb to Claire’s. Because he’s Bro.

You’re getting both done, cause you know with your showering habits one of them is gonna get infected, and maybe there’s a chance that one of them might live to tell the tale. 

After signing the thingy, Bro went off in the mall, to Build-a-Bear or something, leaving you and John to fend for yourselves in choosing out what piece of metal you want in your ear. You go for a simple stud with a ball on it, and you can switch it out for something cooler once it’s healed. For now, though, this. 

There are screaming girls around there everywhere, but you don’t really care because you know you’re hot as fuck, at least compared to the only other guy in the store. John’s pale as anything, like he’s never seen a day of sun, and he’s a little bulkier than you, but in that way that you can’t tell if it’s fat or muscle, but probably a mix of the two. He’s taller than you, though, which sucks. Unfortunately, though, you think you’re the only black person in the shop, which is never fun. 

You nod as the woman goes through the care instructions with you, but you’re not really listening. Bro’s got some tatts and his mid cartilage pierced, so he know how to take care of it. No, you’re more thinking about how big the needle is, how it’s gonna go through your ear, how you’re gonna feel it going through your ear, and then how you’re gonna have to live through the other one. You really don’t wanna scream, or cry, or curse or anything, but it’s fucking scary, and you know it’s gonna hurt. You’re also thinking about Egbert’s dumb smile once it’s happening, thinking that you’re the coolest guy in the world even when you’re grimacing like shit, just hoping that it’ll get over with. 

And that’s how it happens, really. “C’mon, Dave, grow a pair, it won’t hurt that much.” He says, but that’s where he’s wrong because it will hurt that much, and he’s got his greasy grubby little fat fingers on your arm and the nice lady is going at your ear wielding a needle and this chair is a whole lot less comfy than you thought, and your hearts gonna beat out of your fucking chest holy shit. 

You close your eyes tight, like, real tight, and then it goes through.

Huh.

It hurt, like it did, but it was just a shot. And not even one of the really painful ones, either, one of the one’s where it’s scarier to know it’s coming and see the needle in your skin than anything. And then you feel her putting the back on, and one is done.

John’s up in your face immediately, despite her trying to bat him away. “Did it hurt?! Did it hurt, really? It’s bleeding a little, but not that much, and it’s super red and shit, but it’s cool, it looks so cool!!”

You wait for him to cool out a little, before informing him that it didn’t hurt at all, and you don’t know why he was freaking out so much, it was easy as pie, nothing to be afraid of. But you thanked him for being such a weenie and caring about you so much to be scared.

He rolls his eyes, and for a second you think that he might know how scared you were, but then the needle is right up against your other ear, and.

It’s a fucking piece of cake. 

You are so cool. You are literally the coolest, like not even ironically. 

And it didn’t hurt that badly. You can imagine yourself doing this again and again.

**Author's Note:**

> so, this is first things first. yay. i hope you enjoyed that chapter, because i sure didn’t enjoy writing it as much as i thought i would.
> 
> about this series—each work talks about different issues in different ways, and there is a plethora of different ratings. though meant to be read altogether, i think each would make sense alone. probably. maybe there are exceptions to that? I dunno.
> 
> check the blog, 'davefic.tumblr.com', or the author’s (my!) written works on ao3 to read them in order and for different updates on the series. i will throw in works out of order, different bonus stuff and other things like that. also feel free to ask us any questions about headcanons, firsts, or just tell us what you want about the series. thank.  
> you can ask either of the mods on that blog questions, or ask directly to my blog, ‘nicelegsdaisypukes.tumblr.com’. or, you can go to rookie’s blog which is currently at ‘yungtravolta.tumblr.com’ ‘cause they just love to talk my fix over with me and stuff and have helped me think through and write a bunch of it, so special thanks to them.


End file.
